Curated by AllZimNews. com
BY CHARLES MAFAFor 24-year-old Webby Kyaiwa, his two missing fingers are a constant reminder of a traumatic short stint at a Chinese copper mine in where he was employed as a casual worker. “It happened when we were lifting rocks underground.
The gentleman who was operating the machine pulled it without alerting us,” said Kyaiwa as he recounted his ordeal.
His employer assisted him to get treatment at the nearby Mukinge Mission Hospital.
But he lost his job soon after he was discharged from hospital when his short-term contract expired. “It happened when we were lifting rocks underground.
The gentleman who was operating the machine pulled it without alerting us,” said Kyaiwa as he recounted his ordeal. “The incident left my hand like this,” he added, showing the missing fingers on his hand.
Kyaiwa’s tragic story was uncovered through a month-long investigation by MakanDay with support from the Information Development Trust (IDT), a non-profit organisation supporting journalists to probe corruption and bad governance in Southern Africa, into alleged rampant abuse of workers by Chinese owned small scale copper miners in northwestern Zambia.
A source at Mukinge who has access to the clinical data registry, confirmed that Kyaiwa was admitted to the hospital on May 15, 2019 and discharged on May 19.
He said between 2019 and 2021, 12 workers from Jifumpa Mine were admitted to the hospital for treatment after suffering different injuries.
According to hospital records, the most frequently reported injuries from miners were fractures, cuts and bruises.
Other conditions were injuries to the fingers and shoulders. “My findings are that many are admitted, but they don’t just give the address of the mine, but give their villages addresses when they get hospital admissions,” the source said. north-western Zambia some of the injured miners at Jifumpa have been to his palace to complain about lack of compensation from the mine owners.
Zambia’s Mines Safety Department (MSD) is responsible for safety and health of mining industry employees and mineral processing in line with the provisions of the Mines and Mineral Development Act.
Some of the department’s responsibilities include, “the protection of human health, in consultation with the minister responsible for health”.
The MSD is also responsible for carrying out inspections, mining safety audits and risk assessments in mines.
On April 1, 2022, MakanDay wrote to the director of mines in Ndola on the Copperbelt Fred Banda, requesting for data about mine accidents that have occurred between 2016 and 2021, especially for Jifumpa, but to this day it has not been provided. 🔗 Read Full Article
#Allzimnews #AllZimNews #Zimbabwe
All Zim News aggregates news from a variety of sources for public interest and historical record.
Headlines, excerpts, and images are displayed with attribution and links to the original publisher.
All copyrights remain with their original owners.
Where full articles are shown, permission has been obtained or the content is in the public domain.
For copyright concerns, contact admin@allzimnews. com.
